Technology is evolving and helping to make the treatment of brain tumors more precise.

• Stereotactic localization. This technique utilizes a MRI scan to map a tumor’s exact location within the brain. Techniques using lasers and ultrasound also make removal of the tumor more precise, reducing the risk that cancer cells will be left behind and that healthy tissue will be harmed.

• Stereotactic radiosurgery. This treatment precisely focuses radiation beams to a tumor. No scalpels are involved. Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery delivers radiation beams in the exact size and shape of the tumor, with the aid of brain-imaging techniques.

• Drug-delivering implants. Researchers are also studying new ways to deliver cancer-fighting drugs to brain tumors. For instance, biodegradable wafers containing cancer-fighting drugs are being implanted in some tumors during surgery.

• Other approaches. Gene therapy, drugs that cut off a tumor’s blood supply and agents that may be able to interrupt tumor growth or to seek out and kill brain cancer cells are all under investigation.

Clinical trials

Many of the newer treatments for brain tumors are being tested in clinical research trials. If you have a brain tumor, particularly a malignant brain tumor, participating in a clinical trial can help you have access to the newest experimental treatments and take part in helping to define the role of these new treatments.

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